The third of 12 days of profiles of ordinary people who make an impact in their community.

Even small, selfless acts can spark a chain reaction. Just ask the kids at Wesley School in North Hollywood.

Three years ago, 6-year-old Colton Patarias, his father and his then-first grade teacher, Melinda Vasquez, came up with an idea. Why not make it a class project to raise money to help protect endangered animals?

His father, Constantine Patarias, is a longtime volunteer at the Los Angeles Zoo and suggested the class could raise money for the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association and its worldwide conservation efforts.

Colton would lead the effort - asking for donations, instead of gifts for his 6th birthday.

His classmates joined in.

"They were all excited, they're all animal lovers," he said of the other students' interest in the program.

Now, three years after the Wesley first-graders launched the project, they've raised $3,500 for the zoo's wildlife conservation project - the most donated by a single school, according to GLAZA.

To date, GLAZA's Adopt An Animal program, launched 23 years ago, has raised more than half a million dollars.

Other local schools, such as the Roosevelt School in Burbank, and St. Frances de Sales in Sherman Oaks, have also contributed over the years, but the Wesley School is one school that consistently raises funds on an ongoing basis, said Genie Vasels, a vice president at GLAZA.

As they raise money through recycling drives and jog-a-thons, Vasquez has the class "adopt" an animal and study up on the species. Over the years, they've adopted a gorilla, a tiger and giant otters who reside at the L.A. Zoo, and raised money in the animals' names.

Through field trips to the zoo and classroom instruction, the effort broadens the kids' knowledge of the world by teaching them about the Amazon, for instance, where otters' habitats are being destroyed by humans.

And the Wesley School first-graders take annual trips to the L.A. Zoo.

"They can see where their money is going," Vasquez said. "They can make a concrete connection with the animals."

On a recent Friday, they checked out the habitat for the giant otters, watching as a family of six giant otters swam and frolicked in the enclosure.

Colton, who is now 9, was also there, watching the animals, with his father, Constantine.

His son always had an interest in animals, Constantine said, but his love of the zoo increased after he began raising money for the program.